Rain Flashcards
‘rain, midnight rain, nothing but the wild rain’
midnight= darkness + anxiety
wild = connotes unpredictable + dangerous
combination of: rain + darkness + situation = takes poet to a dark place —> forcing him to reflect on solitude + humanity + war/death
repetition of rain
repetition of rain= emphasizes the insistence of rain + saddness it brings
= overwhelming
-replicate the monotonous sound of rain hitting the roof and windows of the army hut
“Remembering again I shall die”
Ing-present continuous = places reader in situation w/ poet –> build empathy
“For washing me cleaner then I have been”
Metaphor- rain washes him from impurity and prepares him for war
“Solitary, listening to the rain,
Either in pain or thus in sympathy
Helpless among the living and the dead,
Like a cold water among broken reeds,
Myriads of broken reeds all still and stiff,”
Sibilance:
-reflects liquidity (hissing rushing sound of water/rain)
“Like a cold water among broken reeds
Myriads(countless) of broken reeds all still and stiff”
-metaphor: The reeds that are broken are the symbols of dead soldiers.
-“Myriad” refers to the countless thousands that have died in the war.
-The vivid image of the reeds “all still and stiff” symbolizes the corpses lying about on the battlefield.
-Thomas expresses his resemblance to the reeds as he too is a broken man, cast down by life’s misfortunes.
“Like me who have no love which this wild rain
Has not dissolved except the love of death”
-Verb choice ‘dissolved’ clear image other things have slowly dissapeared except death
-Rain has washed away all his love for things in the world (connection to the world) except his acceptance of death.
“If love it be for what is perfect”
He thinks death is perfect because:
-it doesn’t dissapiont
-it’s complete
-no going back
Steady metre + alliterating
Mirrors driving rhythm + intensity of rain
Themes
-death
-human existance
-solitude
-power of nature
Background Edward Thomas
-volunteered in British army in WW1
-died in war in 1917 (wrote this poem in 1916)
Tones
-melancholic (sad/depressive)
-somber (dark)
-contemplative
mournful (feels loss of something he hasn’ yet lost)
Double meaning of rain
Solitude VS cleansing
Summary
-poetic voice is the author in ww1 trench
-he is contemplating his own mortality + nature of death
-constant stream of rain pounding down
-he thinks rain isn’t bad (washes him cleaner)
